In light of the tragic events this spring at Virginia Tech, then-SUNY Chancellor John Ryan named a 23-member Task Force on Critical Incident Management. The task force — which includes seven UUPers — was charged with reviewing existing safety policies and risk assessment practices, and making recommendations to further improve campus safety.

Task force recommendations covered three crucial areas: risk assessment and mental health issues; emergency response; and communications technology.

Key to the plan is a commitment by the University to provide new funding

to enable campuses to implement the recommendations.

A brief summary follows:

Risk assessment, mental health

• Increase number of licensed mental health professionals;

• Review campus training opportunities and practices regarding risk assessment;

• Train campus employees to report incidents of aggressive behavior;

• Create behavior assessment committees on each campus to identify individuals who are potential risks;

• Train campus personnel on the

circumstances, if any, under which records or information can be shared;

• Encourage lawmakers to support

legislation that will clarify and expand the conditions under which student records can be shared;

• Create on each campus an involuntary administrative/psychiatric withdrawal

policy for students who present an imminent health and safety risk to themselves or others; and,

• Train University police in mental health crisis intervention.

Emergency response

• Review campus “Immediate Action Rapid Deployment” plans to ensure they have the necessary personal protective equipment, armament and training for effective responses;

• Recommend the SUNY Board of Trustees review SUNY’s policy on possession, storage, care and use of weapons to see if it needs to be revised;

• Develop a SUNYwide policy that mandates students who possess illegal firearms on campus will be suspended or expelled from SUNY;

• Ensure that each campus has an up-to-date Emergency Response Plan (ERP) that identifies an individual with responsibility and authority to implement the plan;

• Make ERPs available for review by members of the college community and parents;

• Plan for post-event activities, such as trauma counseling; and,

• Create through the Office of the Chancellor a critical incident reporting procedure.

Communications technology

• Ensure that campuses have at least one method of communicating the existence of an emergency condition to the campus community, such as sirens, e-mail and instant messaging;

• Implement a mass notification system, using both audible and visual means;

• Establish at all campuses a notification service provider to send “alert-only” notification to pre-defined groups of students, faculty and staff;

• Use Incident Planning and Management software to assist in ERPs;

• Pursue the capability of intercepting cable signals to allow for the overlay of emergency broadcast messages on all campus TV stations;

• Assess the capability of SUNY’s technology infrastructure to support emergency services; and,

• Design communications systems that are able to operate in the event of a power outage.

The task force also recommended that more University police and safety personnel be hired and that campus officers be given authority to conduct background checks on criminal history.

— Karen L. Mattison